Nepal only has one city, which I have now left in favour of its largest town, Pokhara (pronounced Pokar-ah). The air is much clearer here, it has a tourist area called Lakeside (which is for the obvious reason) and I have had my first sight of the Himalayas. This is a much nicer place to relax before the big trek.

Many buses that left Kathmandu early in the morning headed out to the Privthi Highway, the only road to Pokhara. They were joined by multi-coloured trucks bearing slogans like "Speed King" and "Love and Peace" and minibuses, but rarely a car. This long multi-coloured convoy snaked it's way through the rice paddies and over the one way bridges and pot-holes, my bus eventually arriving at it's destination nine and a half hours later after covering a distance of only around 200km.

On my approach to Pokhara I saw out of the right window my first view of the Himalayas. The massive Annapurna range came into view and my jaw nearly hit the floor. It is an understatement to say that these mountains are big. The sheer scale of them is almost overwhelming. Rising to over 8000m, and one of only 14 mountains in the world to do so, Annapurna was the first of the big peaks to be climbed (in 1950 by a French team).

And out of the left window I saw a bird swooping from post to post flashing it's bright turquoise wings and tail. After doing my research I discovered that it was an Indian Roller (or Blue Jay); common in Indian towns and cities, but not so common here, and local superstition dictates that for anyone who is about to embark on a long journey who sees one, it is a good omen.

So my journey continued with a hike up to the World Peace Pagoda (a monument built by the Japanese), a boat trip to get back across the lake, and this morning I was up at 4-30 AM to take a taxi to Sarangkot for a view of the Annapurna range at sunrise. It was well worth the effort.

I will soon be heading off on a long trek that will take me on a full circuit around the whole of the mountain range that I saw this morning. I will reach a height of over 5400m at the Thorung La Pass, will pass close to the Tibetan border, and this will take me into very remote territory. I will therefore not be posting again for up to a month. Yes, it may take that long because I intend to do a few interesting side trips on the way. There is Internet access at the town of Jomsom (after the high pass), which I will try to use but electricity is not in huge supply in the mountains (or indeed here at times), so it may not be possible.

I have been trying to get together a small group of trekkers, and the numbers keep rising and falling. Currently it is not looking too promising, so I think I will head closer to the trail head, maybe spending a night or two at Bandipur which is an interesting hill town untouched by tourists. Fortunately I have the time to wait for potential companions, as long as I can make it over the pass before the snows arrive any time after mid-November.